WebChat Broadcasting System: Difference between revisions

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[[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] had existed as a dedicated chatting network but was mostly used by seasoned Internet users. Chat websites capitalized on the growing base of Internet general users by providing a simpler, more attractive chatting interface. Chatting became focused on community and socialization.<ref name="yahoo" />

InBy August 1996, WBS had 500,000 registered users and was growing by over 3,000 users aper day.

In February 1997, WBS reached a milestone of 1 million registered users, accruing 4,000 new registered users and 5.5 million page views every day. Registrations were not confirmed. At this point, it was featuring 200 individual affinity groups. Within a week of the launch of a new feature to allow members to create their own home pages, over 15,000 members had begun using it.<ref name="1_million_accounts">{{Cite press release | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Feb_3/ai_19082095/ | title=WebChat Broadcasting System hits 1 million registered users | ___location=Menlo Park, California | publisher=[[Business Wire]], [[FindArticles]] | date=3 February 1997 | access-date=28 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619111447/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Feb_3/ai_19082095/ | archive-date=19 June 2006 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

InBy May 1997, WBS had grown to 1.4 million registered users. The other large web chat companycommunity at this time was WebGenesis Inc.'s [[theGlobe.com|The Globe]]. Also internet service provider [[AOL]] had over 14,000 chat rooms available to their customers through their non-web interface.<ref name="business_week">{{Cite news | first=Robert D | last=Hof | title=Breaking out of the yak pack | work=Business Week | publisher=McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. | date=May 5, 1997 | url=http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35257.htm | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970617020734/http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35257.htm | archive-date=17 June 1997 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

In June 1997, WBS hit 1.5 million registered users and had 7 million daily page views with over 200 rooms.<ref name="business_journal">{{Cite news | first=Lorna | last=Fernandes | title=Techweek - WebChat serves 1.5 million | work=Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal | date=20 June 1997 | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1997/06/23/newscolumn2.html | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20200523110005/http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1997/06/23/newscolumn2.html#selection-417.0-417.26 | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

WBS frequently hosted real-time multimedia programming events, which onlybecame increasedmore frequent as its popularity grew. Such events attracted many celebrities such as [[Tom Clancy]], the celebrity cast of [[Star Trek]], bands [[Soundgarden]] and [[Metallica]], the former president of [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], Lawrenceand Grossman[[NBC fromNews]], [[NBCLawrence K. Grossman|NBCLawrence NewsGrossman]], United States Senator [[Arlen Specter]], [[Intel]] CEO [[Andy Grove]] and feminist [[Gloria Steinem]].<ref name="1_million_accounts" /><ref>{{Cite press release | title=Internet Users Flock to WebChat Broadcasting System; Site Now the Largest Chatting Hub on the World Wide Web | ___location=Menlo Park, California | publisher=Business Wire, FindArticles | date=20 November 1995 | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Nov_20/ai_17769738 | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912013719/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Nov_20/ai_17769738 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Rise of instant messaging===

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===Infoseek buyout and demise===

Infoseek bought out WBS for approximately $6.7 million, or about 350,000 shares of Infoseek stock in April 1998. At the time WBS had 2.7 million users.<ref name="la_times">{{Cite news | title=Infoseek to Buy WebChat Broadcasting | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | publisher=[[Reuters]] | date=15 April 1998 | url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/1998archives/la-xpm-1998-apr/-15/business/-fi-39335-story.html | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523111832/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-15-fi-39335-story.html | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref>

WBS daily page views were down to 5 million in April, 1998.<ref name="infoseek_losses">{{Cite news | title=Infoseek Pares Its Losses | work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | date=23 April 1998 | url=https://www.wired.com/1998/04/infoseek-pares-its-losses/ | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912022907/https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/04/11889 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref>

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When Infoseek acquired WBS there had been several web portals that added chat as a service. [[Lycos]] had bought the [[Tripod.com|Tripod]] community in February 1998 and Yahoo had added a deal with [[GeoCities]] in January 1998. There was strong competition between the web portals to match each other's services. WBS, at the time of the Infoseek acquisition, had 2.7 million registered users. This total was more than the membership of Tripod and GeoCities combined. WBS had only 350,000 personal homepages at the time. Infoseek's three main competitors at the time were Lycos, Yahoo, and [[Excite (web portal)|Excite]].<ref>{{Cite web | first=Joe | last=Nickell | title=Web Portals Play Leapfrog | work=Wired | date=17 April 1998 | url=https://www.wired.com/1998/04/web-portals-play-leapfrog/ | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912023359/https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/04/11744 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1998, Infoseek was purchased by the [[Go Network]]. On September 15, 1999, WBS was shut down and many of the more popular rooms were transferred to Go's Java-based chat system. All that was left for the members at that time was this simple message: "Go.Com has decided to close down WBS and move its most popular rooms to the chat rooms at Go.Com. Your home pages will still be viewable for an undetermined amount of time. Thank you for supporting WBS during its existence." By the Spring of 2000, all WBS home pages had been deleted. Go.com abandoned chat entirely in 2001.

==Migration==

After its demise, many patrons of WBS migrated to other browser-based chat sites where some of the general topic rooms were recreated. Notable sites created in the wake of WBS' closure included bigbob.com and mywbs.com, both of which were created by former WBS chatters, utilizing a similar browser-based chat system. It is likely that many WBS userschatters migratedbegan tousing instant messaging software, the popularity of which was increasing substantially at that time.

Martin Foster developed software that offered several of the features of the original WBS and IFC that had gained popularity. This code has been used in developing numerous chat sites which have attracted many former patrons of the original WBS, especially those who frequented the roleplaying rooms. It was originally developed to power Ethereal Realms, but the site now merely hosts the software for use on other sites.

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==2009 revival==

In July 2009, classic-wbs.net, a revival of WBS and virtually identical to the original community, was launched; most of the original chat rooms and features havehad been retained or recreated. The most noticeable differences arewere the lack of personal homepages and the chat rooms arewere not moderated. With no prior announcement, the revived WBS community was closed without explanation during the summer of 2023 and has not reappeared.<ref name="classic-web.net" />

==See also==